Week Ending 7 November
Sadly I have to kick off on very sombre note this week. It is with great sadness that I have to report that Alastair passed away on Friday. Regular readers of the blog will have noticed Alastair's absence since the end end of last year when he was first taken ill. The news came as a shock as a couple of us had met up with him last month and he seemed to making good progress.
Alastair was one of the founder members of the drainage gang, a civil engineer by profession, he was the 'go to' person for advice on our construction projects. Over the the last few years he had a wider role in the Civil Engineering organisation on the railway, conducting all the visual bridge and culvert inspections and monitoring the civils projects that were going on.
He has left a big hole that will be difficult to fill, a true gentle man, always there when we needed him.
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Alastair Watson 1948 - 2020
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The Monday team of Dave and Nigel had the last full day on-site before the latest COVID-19 lockdown started. All work on the railway has been suspended except for jobs that are deemed critical to the ongoing operation of trains. This means that drainage work has come to halt yet again.
It was back down to Bishops Cleeve to do some more clearance around the crest drain where some of the down side slope has been washed out onto the edge of the track. While there the boys did a couple of trial hols to see if there was any sign of the mystery steel pipe, but alas there wasn't. They did manage to clear the ditch to the point where it runs down to the trackbed level.
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| Down side crest ditch clearance |
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Trial hole in the down side slope - nothing
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Scrape in the up side cess, no wash out plate
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Down side slope cleared for an engineering inspection
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Water flowing from the concrete pipe to the plastic bend
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An early return to Winchcombe allowed time for draining the petrol from all the machines to stop them clogging up while laid idle in the shed.
An early start on Wednesday, a bit of surprise to see the temperature down to -3 on the way in, the first real frost of the season. At least it was a quick meeting on site a Cleeve with the consulting engineer to discuss the works necessary to sort out the void and do a permanent fix on the down side slope below Two Hedges Road.
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A frosty Bishops Cleeve Cutting
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Sun rising over Cleeve Hill
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Jonathan, the Consulting Engineer investigates
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The void is under the pipe near the old sleeper,
visible on the left side of the pipe |
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Cleeve down side cutting slope
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A thought in closing, I never counted how many tonnes of concrete and mortar that Alastair mixed over the years, he often spent 4 or more days a week on the mixer. He would happily spend the day shovelling the makings into the rotating drum. We'll all miss him
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Alastair cleaning the mixer at Stanton
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I never knew or met Alastair, but I am still grateful for the tribute you paid to him and his work on the railway. Best wishes to you all. AH
ReplyDeleteSad news about Alastair, my condolences to all. I've just been reading the Civil Engineering Blog about the River Isbourne works and one of the subsequent comments referred to the amount of encroachment onto railway property by various householders by moving fences and/or putting gates into existing ones. Was anything ever done about this? Some people these days seem to think they can do just what they like without any fear of the resulting consequences.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to hear that Alastair has passed on, our sincerest condolances to his family, I met Alastair twice and he was such a gentleman and gave me advice about the base structure for our garden summerhouse/model railway room. Our builder said the information was spot on for the structure, thankyou Alastair! Hopefuly the big man upstairs will take on his advice!
ReplyDeleteRegards
Paul & Marion
I am sorry to read of Alastair's passing , a true gentleman who worked tirelessly with Andy P to build up the Lineside Drainage Dept who have probably done more to make the GWSR safe going through the last few Winter's .
ReplyDeleteA skilful and hard worker with experience and knowledge on so many topics , we shall miss him so much , it was always nice to talk to him after a long day outside on the railway , RIP john M.
So sorry to hear the very sad news about Alastair; there seem to have been a lot (too many) similar announcements recently. My condolences to those who worked with him, and of course to his family.
ReplyDeleteNoel